Bluffton nurse recognized with Daisy Award

Nancy Fu, RN, who nominated Laura Hawkins for the award Hawkins with her daughter Ailey and family.

Nurse Laura Hawkins is with her daughter Ailey and grandparents Al and Patricia Uva.

A Beaufort Memorial Hospital nurse has been honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, a national tribute reserved for RNs who go above and beyond the call of duty.

Bluffton resident Laura Hawkins, a nurse in the hospital’s oncology unit, received the award for her efforts to comfort a dying 31-year-old father, distressed his children would forget him.

The patient was a Marine who had been deployed before being diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Hawkins and her colleagues at BMH had cared for the young man throughout his treatment.

“He was really upset he wasn’t going to be around for them,” said Hawkins, the mother of a 7-year-old girl. “They always tell you to be a holistic nurse and treat the whole patient—body and mind. I did whatever I could to make him comfortable, but it was the emotional pain that was his biggest issue.”

Hawkins did some research and found an online company that makes “Daddy Dolls” to help children of soldiers sent overseas cope with the stresses of separation. The 12-inch plush doll features the image of the father dressed in uniform.

Without letting on what she was planning, she asked the patient to email her a head-to-toe photo of himself in combat fatigues. She collected donations from other nurses in the unit to purchase the dolls for the patient’s 5-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter.

“When I called the company, they told me I would receive the dolls in about six weeks,” Hawkins recalled. “I told them he didn’t have six weeks. They rushed the order and I got it in 10 days.”

The grateful Marine presented the gift to his children just two weeks before he died.

“When nurses do these things, they’re not thinking about the rewards,” said Julie Schott, a department director and the nurse who oversees the DAISY Award program for BMH. “They’re just trying to relieve the pain and suffering of their patients.”

Hospital staff surprised Hawkins with the award last week. They brought in her family to participate in the celebration held in the fifth floor unit. The trophy she received is a sculpture titled “A Healer’s Touch” that was hand carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.

“Laura is an outstanding nurse,” said her director Dot Rucker. “She always puts her patients first. Her patients love her.”

Hawkins, the fourth Beaufort Memorial nurse to receive a DAISY, was nominated for the award by her clinical manager. Nominations can be made by anyone, and in the past they have come from patients, their friends and families, as well as fellow workers. Nomination forms are available throughout the hospital.